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Press release: “Web Valentine’s Day” – P&G and Alibaba Refresh VR Shopping Experience BEIJING — P&G China and Alibaba VR Lab jointly launched the “VR Boy Friend” and “VR Girl Friend” marketing campaign on May 20, “Web Valentine’s Day,” the Chinese online version of the holiday, using VR technology on Alibaba’s TaobaoRead More →

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Online games and social networks are already hotbeds of bad behavior, but virtual reality offers an even higher degree of potential harm — and experts are urging VR innovators to build in more safeguards from the ground up. That includes building in controls to deter bad behavior and giving usersRead More →

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If you are located near Northampton, Massachusetts, or plan to swing by, Northampton Community Television is offering free public virtual reality demos using the HTC Vive and Gear VR headsets. Stop by the NCTV facilities at 380 Elm St. on Tuesdays from 6 to 7 p.m. and on Wednesdays and Fridays from 2 to 3 p.m. It’sRead More →

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Google Expeditions, the virtual reality version of the 1990’s TV series The Magic Schoolbus, has reached over one million students, Google announced today. Google Expeditions was launched last spring, and is now in eleven countries. There are more than 200 virtual trips available to such destinations as Buckingham Palace and the Great Barrier Reef. TheRead More →

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EBay has launched the world’s first virtual reality store, in partnership with Australian retailer Myer. It works with all Google Cardboard devices, and the company is also giving away Shopticals, a branded headset made out of Cardboard. You can download the app for iPhones and for Android devices — but onlyRead More →

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A startup that allows a smartphone’s own camera to be used to track hand gestures has received a $20 million investment. Chinese technology conglomerate Kuang-Chi will invest in Israel-based provider of software-based machine vision and gesture recognition technology eyeSight Technologies, the company said in a statement. Currently, gesture controllers are only available for high-end,Read More →

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In a survey of more than 2,000 tech-savvy US consumers conducted late last month, 40 percent said that they planned to buy virtual reality headsets in the next two years — but that price was an issue. In addition, 61 percent of the respondents, who were mostly young and male,Read More →

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Google announced a new operating system for virtual reality that will run on new, compatible Android phones, the company announced at its annual developers conference today. The platform is called Daydream and seems to include some of the features of the Samsung Gear VR platform, including a virtual environment thatRead More →

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If there was any doubt, two new reports out this week confirm that we have the first killer app for virtual reality, and it’s watching videos. That might come as a surprise to people who expected immersive, first-person games to be more attractive, or virtual meetings and socializing. However, watching videosRead More →

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Virtual reality trailblazer Oculus VR has launched its VR for Good program, offering support to students, filmmakers, and nonprofit organizations looking to create immersive films. The first part, aimed at high school students in the San Francisco area, is a six-week program designed to help students explore careers in the sciencesRead More →

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Google added support for virtual reality headsets to its Android YouTube app late last year, enabling any video to be seen in side-by-side immersive view simply by clicking on a cardboard icon at the top right or bottom right of the video screen. Traditional videos were shown as if theyRead More →

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I love virtual reality rollercoaster apps because they’re an easy way to show off the technology to people who’ve never tried it before. You don’t have to teach people how to interact with the app, or how to navigate. All you do is pull it up and hand over theRead More →

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The Void, a Utah-based virtual reality theme park, is coming to Times Square in July with a Ghostbusters-themed experience. Customers put on virtual reality headsets and backpacks holding computers, and walk around inside a virtual world, Star Trek Holodeck-style. Read more about the Ghostbusters experience at The Verge. Watch aRead More →

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Samsung’s Gear VR had 1 million users last month, reported its content partner, Facebook’s Oculus VR. Oculus also reported that Gear VR now has 250 apps, including the recently-added Minecraft. The average user spends 25 minutes a day using the headset, which was released six months ago. Media the killer appRead More →

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Home interior design firm Decorilla recently launched an Android and iOS application that allows users to do virtual walthroughs of interior designs using Google Cardboard-compatible virtual reality headsets. The company is also planning to extend coverage to Oculus and Samsung Gear VR headsets. The company started with Google Cardboard because Cardboard-compatible headsets areRead More →

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Daden Limited, a U.K Based firm that creates immersive learning and visualization systems, is planning to add a dozen new virtual locations to its recently released Fieldscapes VR, an educational virtual tour app for Android devices. Fieldscapes VR also allows users to create their own virtual learning environments, no coding required. In addition,Read More →

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When I first heard about all-in-one virtual reality headsets, the idea seemed totally impractical. Who would want to spend several hundred dollars on technology that would become quickly obsolete? With mobile-based headsets, you’re still spending hundreds of dollars on technology — but you’re spending it on the phone, which youRead More →

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AltspaceVR, a social world with support for virtual reality headsets such as the Oculus Rift, Vive, and Samsung Gear VR, is adding support for its business users with Slack integration. Slack is a hot new messaging and collaboration platform and is free for small teams. Team members who do notRead More →

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Disclosure: I bought this headset with my own money, and the purchase links at the bottom of this article are to all the major sites I know that carry it, with affiliate links where available. Bottom line: This headset does not make my best-buy list. It is heavy in comparison to otherRead More →

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Samsung, Sony, HTC, and Oculus will lead other brands in shipping about 9.6 million units of virtual reality hardware in the global market this year, to surpass previous estimates of $2 billion in sales and reach around $2.3 billion, International Data Corp. predicted in a new research report, not counting salesRead More →

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Disclosure: The folks at EverBuying just sent me a free review copy of the VRToto headset. Thanks, guys! The purchase links at the bottom of this article are to all the major sites I know that carry it, with affiliate links where available. Bottom line: This headset does not make my best-buy list. ItRead More →

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Despite acceptability and huge interest among investors to adopt virtual reality, the technology is still in its learning phases and lack of technological standards across the industry and bandwidth issues will certainly derail its tipping point, according to a research report released by Greenlight VR last week. At the same time,Read More →

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I’ve been noticing a disturbing trend in much of the news media and analyst research reports covering virtual reality hardware — a complete and utter dismissal of the virtual reality headsets made in China. Instead, all the attention goes to the super-pricey and super-niche tethered headsets like the Oculus Rift,Read More →

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Disclosure: The folks at GeekBuying just sent me a free review copy of the DeePoon V3 headset. Thanks, guys! The purchase links at the bottom of this article are to all the major sites I know that carry it, with affiliate links where available. Bottom line: Right now, this headset is giving my currentRead More →

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SAN FRANCISCO — High Fidelity has launched the beta of Sandbox, a platform for shared virtual reality. The free, open source software is available now for content and software developers to begin creating and connecting virtual worlds that are accessible using the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or desktop PCs. Sandbox makesRead More →

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SEATTLE – HTC Corp., a pioneer in innovative, smart technologies, today announced it is launching Vive X, a global accelerator program targeted at start-ups operating in the virtual reality space. With a $100 million investment fund led by HTC, the program is designed to help cultivate, foster and grow the global virtual realityRead More →

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Press release: SpaceVR Raises $1.25 Million to Launch Virtual Reality Camera Satellites into Space SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – SpaceVR, the world’s first platform for creating cinematic, live, virtual space tourism, announced today it has raised a $1.25 million seed financing round. The funding is led by Shanda Group with participation from SkywoodRead More →

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Press release: Distribution to Coincide with Release of VR Film, “Seeking Pluto’s Frigid Heart” NEW YORK–In partnership with Google, The New York Times will distribute 300,000 Google Cardboard viewers to its most loyal digital subscribers next month in conjunction with the publication of “Seeking Pluto’s Frigid Heart,” a stereoscopic virtual realityRead More →

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Press release: New platform enables user-created social VR experiences SAN FRANCISCO – Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life, today announced that applications have opened for an upcoming “Creator Preview” for Project Sansar, the new platform for user-created social virtual reality experiences. Interested 3D content creators can now apply at ProjectSansar.com and acceptedRead More →

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The Dutch VR development studio Verum Visum LP has launched a Kickstarter for an interactive documentary, Chornobyl360, that will allow users to experience the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in an immersive way and interact with living witnesses from 1986. The Kickstarter was launched on April 26 on the 30th anniversary ofRead More →

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Four Norwegian experts recently proved that virtual reality live streaming systems can practically be employed to control vehicles, when they helped drive a real battle tank — a German Leopard 1 — with the driver immersed in a virtual environment. The driver had complete awareness of the actual environment all aroundRead More →

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Fifty more schools will get free Nearpod virtual reality headsets, lesson plans, professional development and one-on-one support, the company announced this week. And Google Expeditions, the biggest virtual reality education program, rolled its education program to Irish schools and will be heading to Dublin and Belfast next in the coming two weeks, according to theRead More →

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Today, Google Cardboard users who want to switch between virtual reality apps or videos need to take their smartphones out of the viewer and use the touchscreen to navigate the apps. A future version of the Android operating system may offer a more complete virtual reality experience, Ars Technica reports inRead More →

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I recently saw Hardcore Henry at the local mall, a movie funded via a crowdfunding campaign and filmed completely in a video game-style first-person point of view. This was not a great movie. It did not have a great plot, or great character development. It felt more watching someone playRead More →

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Alkonost Development, a London-based independent research and development start-up mostly focused on virtual reality and augmented reality, has launched the beta version of Extended Workspace, a virtual reality interface that allows users to use hand-tracking systems to interact with virtual environments with the entire hand — including fingers and fingertips – suchRead More →

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Nvidia, which recently announced its Iray VR and Iray VR Lite to enable  photorealistic panoramas and light-rich visuals, walkthroughs and scenes in 3D virtual spaces on personal computers and mobile devices, will start to support Iray VR Lite as a standard feature set on its Maya, Cinema4D, Rhino, and 3DsRead More →

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Voxelus, a Los Angeles-based virtual reality firm, has launched its “app store for virtual reality content,” the Voxelus Marketplace, that allows users to sell virtual reality content for the platform’s Voxels in-game crypto-currency. All content is free of charge until April 20 when the platform leaves beta, CEO and founder Martin Repetto told HypergridRead More →

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Developers love the Oculus, Vive, and PlayStation VR because they offer the most cutting edge technology and the highest degree of immersion. But developers are ACTUALLY working on content for the Google Cardboard ecosystem. Don’t confuse the platform for the little cardboard give-away sets, please! There are some VERY niceRead More →

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Press release: Mayo Clinic and vMocion Introduce Technology Which Creates the Sensation of Motion, Transforming Virtual Reality Featuring Mayo Clinic’s Patented Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS) Technology, vMocion’s 3v(TM) Platform Now Available for Licensing LOS ANGELES, CA and SCOTTSDALE, AZ —  Mayo Clinic and vMocion, LLC, an entertainment technology company, today announced itRead More →

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Press release: Digital Media Wire Announces Agenda, Speakers and Virtual Reality Innovation & Networking Lounge for LA Games Conference April 19th Annual Industry Confab Brings Together Top Leaders from EA, Sony PlayStation, Twitch, Google, CAA, SGN, Nexon, Tencent, Gamevil, Seriously, Kabam, Ubisoft, Glu, Endemol, Lionsgate, Perfect World, OGA and manyRead More →

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The folks at GearBest just sent me a free review copy of the PlayGlass headset. While this headset is one of the pricier ones I’ve reviewed recently, I was not particularly impressed with its field of view, usability, and opaque cover. However, it does have decent lens adjustment options andRead More →

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Beijing-based Baofeng Technology Co. Ltd. has sold more than one million of its mobile-based virtual reality headsets since the beginning of this year, the company told the official China Daily newspaper. That compares to reported sales of half a million headsets last year, making Baofeng the industry leader. White theRead More →

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Press release: Discover How to Build the Smarter — Engaged — High Performance Organization MARICOPA, AZ– Elearning! Media Group, producers of the Enterprise Learning! Conference 2016 (ELC16), the leader in learning and workplace technology media, is pleased to announce its groundbreaking Keynote Speaker for the conference. Anders Gronstedt, Ph.D., President, The GronstedtRead More →

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Update: I was doing a demo yesterday and the Cardboard Enabler app I reviewed below mysteriously stopped working. I could no longer switch to the Gear VR view. Deleting the app forced me to reinstall the Gear VR applications and reboot my phone several times. Then my phone died forRead More →

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If you go to the official Google Cardboard site, you might think that there are only a dozen or so compatible headsets — and that half of them are made of cardboard. In fact, that page only shows a very tiny subset of the Cardboard-compatible headsets on the market. WorstRead More →

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Hulu had originally planned to have its virtual reality app for the Samsung Gear VR last fall, but finally released it yesterday. It is a free download on the Gear VR’s Oculus store, and supports both virtual reality films and Hulu’s entire library of traditional 2D videos. There was noRead More →

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Pornhub has launched a dedicated virtual reality porn channel and gave away 10,000 free virtual reality headsets to get people to try it. Totally not safe for work link: http://www.pornhub.com/vr Pornhub says it has over three million videos and attracts over 60 million visitors per day, and, at four million members, theRead More →